English
Bahram Gur Hunts the Lions
He ordered the imperial throne to be brought out into the spring garden.
At his command they carried out the turquoise throne and set it beneath a tree that scattered blossoms.
They brought wine and cups and musicians, and went into the orchard with the nobles.
The king said to his counselor: life is only pleasant when shared with good company.
In the end we all lie alone in the tomb, however tall and grand we may stand now.
Death sweeps away every trace, and topples palaces and grand halls.
Whether king or beggar, whoever dies carries with him only a good name.
In this world, being praised is enough for us; the hoarded treasure of coins is for someone else.
You must be harmless and honest if you want this life you enjoy to bring you no harm.
Now my years have reached thirty-eight, and many days have passed in joy.
When a young man's years climb toward forty, the sorrow of death enters his heart.
When a single hair on your head turns white, you must let go of your hope for pleasure.
When musk gives way to camphor, the musk is flawed; and camphor does not suit a crown.
I will feast and play for two more years, until a little weakness enters my neck.
Then I will go before God and wear coarse penitent's cloth, and I will not be ungrateful for His word.
I have spent many days in joy, and taken my share from every passing breeze.
Now, among roses, pomegranates, apples, and quince, I do not keep my golden wine-cup empty.
When I see the apple's cheek turn ruby-red, and the sky grows dark like a leopard's back,
the spring is fruitful and fragrant, and red wine is like a comforter for grief.
The air turns just right, neither hot nor cold; the earth is green and the waters deep blue.
When autumn comes and we put on fur, we should go hunting toward Jazz.
On that plain let us make such a hunt that we leave a memory in the world.
By now the wild ass has grown thick-necked, bold as a lion and marked like a leopard.
There is no need to bring dogs and cheetahs, hawks, falcons, and hunting birds on such a long journey.
For that is a place for mace, arrow, and bow; we will not be without a charge for a moment.
The desert I have seen below Jazz has become like a spear-shaft, its heights like tamarisk stalks.
There too we will find lions; there will be game if we stay a while.
He waited until the clouds of Shahrivar came, and the world filled with soldiers.
From every corner a warlike army turned its face toward the king of Iran.
From among them he chose the bold ones, those who had a knack for the hunt.
He brought his army to the hunting plain: ten thousand sword-wielding horsemen.
They carried tents and pavilions, and the shelters, stables, and pack animals.
All the servants went ahead of the army and dug pits here and there.
So they might set up pulleys over the pits and raise Chinese awnings above them.
Then the king rode through his troops, with his chosen men, toward the hunting ground.
He saw the whole desert full of wild asses, and the whole thicket teeming with lions.
He said: this is my hunt, where so many bodies lie in the dust from the lions.
Sleep with a glad heart and a healthy body, for tomorrow I must go after the lion.
Now let us drink wine until dawn breaks, until the world-lighting sun shines bright.
First we will bring down the lion with the sword, and cut down the brave dragon-beast as well.
Once this thicket is emptied of lions, the wild ass will become the servant of my arrow.
That night passed, and at early dawn the king and his army went toward the thicket.
At once a lion came striding out, grown fierce and full from feeding on the wild ass.
Bahram the hero said to his companions: I have a bow and arrows and a strong hand,
but I will go at the lion with the sword, so that none may call me a coward.
He put on a damp woolen coat and set his foot in the war-horse's stirrup.
When the lion saw the hero, it rose upright and raised both its forepaws straight up.
As it moved to strike the horse's head, the hunter drove in his heel.
He struck a sharp sword-blow on the lion's head; quickly its mate sought a way to flee.
He cut it in two from head to waist, and filled the hearts of fierce lions with fear.
Then another lion came roaring and bold; its mate was nursing cubs below.
He struck a sharp dagger at its neck, and the male lion's head was torn from its body.
One man said: O king with the face of the sun, you have no mercy on your own life.
The whole thicket is full of lions with their cubs, all of them nursing at their mothers' breasts.
Now the bold beast must be wary, for in autumn it keeps its cubs beneath it.
This thicket stretches three leagues; even if you hunt lions by hand for a whole year,
the world will still not be emptied of lions, so why do you lay such hardship on yourself?
When the king first sat on the throne, he pledged to hunt nothing but the claws of lions.
Now the kingdom of Iran is yours; you came for wild ass, so why this fighting with lions?
The king said to him: O wise old man, tomorrow at dawn it will be me, the wild ass, and the arrow.
These proud horsemen never won fame with the bow and arrow.
If we mean to prove our manhood, let us do it with the mace and the sword.
The priest said to him: no horseman has seen a rider like you in battle.
May the evil eye be far from your glory; may your seat be in gardens and celebration.
The king came from the thicket to his pavilion, with the priest and the commander of the army.
The army called blessings upon him: may crown and signet ring never be without you.
When the army returned, he went to his tent, and the world was full of talk of his justice.
A wise and capable governor scattered thorns around the new pavilion.
They set out camphor, musk, and rosewater, and spread musk over the sleeping place.
In every tent he placed golden tables, and on them set bowls adorned in Chinese fashion.
The steward set out the feast with roast lamb and every kind of food, all of it.
When the meal was done, King Bahram Gur called for a great crystal cup,
for a fairy-faced cupbearer to bring, and place in the palm of the just king.
He said: it was King Ardashir whose good fortune made the old man young again.
He was the source; we are his lesser heirs, if indeed we are worthy of being called his heirs.
In war, in feasting, in counsel, and at the table, call no one but him lord of the world.
When Alexander came from Rome to Iran, this land was laid to ruin.
How ungenerous and harsh he was, when he killed thirty-six of the royal line.
The lips of kings are full of curses against him, and the whole face of the earth is full of hatred for him.
Where they bless Fereydun, upon him falls the curse of every seeker of revenge.
May nothing but goodness go out from me into the world, among the humble and the great alike.
He said: bring me a herald, sweet-voiced and a chief among the notables,
who will go all around the army and cry aloud, on and off the roads,
and proclaim that, in the streets of the city of Jazz, whether it be jewels, gold, silk, or fur,
down even to worthless bits of straw, if anyone lays a wrongful hand on it,
I will set him backward on his horse, dragging him from here with two guards.
They will bind his two feet beneath the horse, and I will send him to the fire-temple of Azargoshasp.
There he will pray to the fire upon the ground and worship before the pure God.
I will give his goods to the one from whom he took them and who suffered the loss.
And if a rider lets his horse into a sown field, or heads for someone's orchard,
he will not be freed from prison for a year, be he a proud horseman or a lowly one.
It is enough that the province has borne the burden of us; let us not come and leave the towns aggrieved.
The merchants of the city set out, people from Jazz and Barquh, two great crowds.
The desert grew like a Chinese bazaar with their wares, on the side where the king's army was camped.